Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Battle for Salvation: Day 0 and 1

Thursday night before the event my wonderful wife again helped me with the painting. We were down to edging on everything and some odds and ends. I learned my old trusty display board was too small to fit this army, so I was going with just a giant tupperware box with old foam stuffed in it....thanks again to the missus for the help there!

I skipped work on Friday, but my focus most of the day was on domestic chores getting the house straight and the wife and kids (and myself) packed with toothbrushes and clean underwear....they went to their grandparents for the weekend while daddy went to play with his toys. :)

They left shortly after lunch, and I still had edging on Venoms and most of the Reavers to do. Sean Nayden was picking me up between 2 and 3, so I had two hours to get it done. I got the Venoms done and packed up...

So many flying stands they need their own case!

Sean sent me a text about then, saying he'd be running late. Perfect! I sat back down and started working on the Reavers...and I got them done!

Here's a few quick and sloppy shots of a quick and sloppy army that I'm quite proud of. It's not winning any painting contests, but it has the coloration and effect I wanted!

Hellions led by Baron Malagant!

The Baron...no shoes!

Blurry Baron...the wife made his collected foot a bit more macabre...thx baby!

Hellions again...

Reavers

More Reavers...

Side of Reavers

Everything got packed up; Sean came to get me; we spent 20 minutes trying to corral the wife's stupid cat to get him outside; and off we went to head towards NYC at 5pm on Fri night...

...we didn't get to the Mall until almost 8, just in time to see the end of the Doubles Tourney and get signed in and judged before heading out for some food. We had Dave & Busters with Brian and James...two good Ordo buddies that had played in the Doubles Tournament. I think they went 1-1-1, or something to that effect. They had a couple decent games, but seemed like one of their games involved a player that was not to pleasant to play against. It happens, sadly :(

After a fun meal, a few beers, and some hellos to other tournament goers we checked in to the hotel, only 5 minutes drive down the rode (near Toywiz where Ordo Malleus meets and The Conflict used to be held). Nice hotel, reasonable rate, short drive. Got my things ready for morning, set the alarm for 0630, and slept away.

We got there a bit early Saturday morning. It was nice to sip on my coffee and watch everyone else set up their toys. I was really smitten with a few of them, so took a few pics:

I really liked this Daemon army, but I didn't catch her name. Sorry, Mystery-lady...your painting is great, but my memory for names is not!

Changeling

Old-fashioned Crushers!

Kairos, Tzeentch Chariots, and a Khorne Herald

This stuff was a great themed army, made by Dan. I also can not remember Dan's last name, but I met him last year at The Warstore Weekend where he had a wonderful Traitor Guard army full of incredible conversions that just blew me away.

This army was Dark Eldar done with Skaven. They had a really fun jumping out of the sewer theme. Kind of a steam-punk feel to them. Very gritty and dark. His display board was phenomenal too! This was Dan from 10 Inch Template blog. Great guy, and beautiful army!

Vect's Dais, Raiders, and Venoms

Wyches

Vect's Dais of Destruction - Won Best Conversion!

Blurry Vect

I was looking forward to the opportunity to fight Fritz's all-reserve Nids, but he decided that he didn't want to push around a million bugs, so went with a list philosophy I really like...what's the fewest amount of things I can put on the table!

Fritz Grey Knights

I wish I had video of Jawa's display board...it played music. Perhaps a bit over the top, but amusing none the less!

Jawa's Blood Angels...won best painted!

Purple Space Marines! Prince would be pleased....

So the pairings go up. I've got those tournament jitters...sweating the first matchup. That first game of the tournament is always such a crap-shoot! I was of course hoping for a 6 year old girl playing Necrons...but instead found myself matched up with Brandon from Brothers Grim and his Logan-led Space Wolves!

This was my first time fighting against Logan, though I have some idea of what his powers are. Skipping ahead a bit, this was the first of four Space Wolves I would fight, three of which included Logan.

From my memory, Brandon had Logan in a drop-pod with Long Fangs with Multi-meltas. The idea, which he was kind enough to make sure I understood, was that he'd give them Relentless when they drop in, allowing them to fire those MM to great effect. Scary! He had another Long Fang squad one in a Razorback; some Grey Hunters with Guard in 3 Rhinos; 3 Guard with meltaguns in another Razorback; some Scouts and a Venerable Dread. Please forgive my horrible memory...this being the first game, I think my brain has kicked out memories of this game to make room for memories of more recent games, but I think he may have had a Rune Priest in Terminator armour come in with the drop pod too, but I might be wrong on that.

The mission was Kill Points, Quarters, Seize with Dawn of War deployment. Thanks to the Baron I won the dice off but honestly I don't remember who went first. I suck.

I put the Hellions and Haemonculous in some area terrain at my bottom right, with everything else walking on. He put a lone Rhino opposite my left; Long fangs and a Razorback (empty?) in the middle, then the other Razor and Rhinos just right of middle. the Dread was behind a hill on my extreme right.

He dropped his Pod in, trying to put it on the centerline between that bastion and small hill, but it scattered way back blocking his own Long Fangs line of fire. They had nothing to shoot at when they came in (I think he went first...). I had the Wrack's venom come on, the Haemi left the Hellions and got in. The Wracks and Baron walked on, the Baron joining the Hellions and the Wracks getting in the Venom. The Incubi flew up hiding behind the Bastion, and everything else went to the left; the Ravagers hiding behind a hill, the Venoms hiding behind the Bastion, and the Reavers turbo-boosting to get cover and be in range to fire at vehicles next turn.

﻿

Crotch!

﻿ Turn 2 his scouts came on, and pretty much everything shot at the Hellions, who went to ground for a healthy 2+ cover and FNP, losing only a few. The Scouts decided to not assault them since they were stuck there. He also took some shots at Reavers that did nothing, and immobilzed a Ravager in a really uncomfortable spot as it spent the game out of range of everything. My turn 2 the Reavers blew up the left Rhino and Lascannon Razorback. Ravagers and Venoms shot at the Long Fangs with Logan. I'm really not sure if there was a Rune Priest there or not...if there was he died in this salvo...

All that was left was Logan and one MM guy. The Incubi flew up and disembarked, running to engage the Long Fangs. I had to go through cover, went at I1, barely won combat, he held. The GH from the left destroyed Rhino moved up and rapid-fired at the Reavers, who went to ground but still only one lived. The Wrack/Haemi Venom blew up.

His scouts and lots of shooting went in to Hellions again, who again went to ground losing only a few. Grey Hunters got out of Rhino to get the Incubi who'd been beaten up by the Long Fangs. Logan and his partner ran forward to assault a Reaver squad, which they destroyed. I'd expected the Hellions to rip apart the Scouts, but two of the scouts lived and they held in combat. I Hit & Run away, moving right in front of his carpark.

Hellions flew behind the vehicles, then ran to engage the GH fighting the Incubi. The Incubi Raider moved backward to be in position to go contest any objective and take pot-shots at vehicles. Venoms moved 6" to unload all their passengers fire on Logan while the vehicles shot at the Hunters on the left. Ravagers moved up to help pick on vehicles. The last Reaver squad moved up to help with the vehicles too.

Brandon's Crotch!

Now my memory gets really fuzzy, so bear with me. Brandon, if you read this help me where I get it wrong. The Shooting wrecked the Razorback, the Guard getting out. The Hellions exploded the Rhino near the Incubi fight, and I think the last Incubus died while the Hellions failed to finish off the GH. The Long Fangs died in there somewhere too. Shooting left Logan alive, but the last MM Long Fang died. The Reavers slid back in to cover, but I forgot it wasn't cover...weird rule for the center terrain was that it was NOT area terrain...I never really did get it, I just did what my opponent told me :P

Logan moved up to assault a Venom. The Wolf Guard moved to shoot up the Reavers. There was another Rhino, I honestly don't remember if it had anyone inside or not, but I'm fairly certain it did not. He had very little shooting left, but did enough to the last Reavers that they ran away, not to return, and wiped out the Haemi and Wracks. The maybe-empty Rhino moved up to middle table to head for the objective in my bottom right.

Due to time this was our last turn. I finished off Logan finally, finished off the weakend Grey Hunters, moved Venoms to get on Objectives, moved the Raider to contest the top left, and kept the Hellions out of melee.

The game ended, I'd lost all 3 reavers, one Venom, Wracks, and Haemonculus; he'd lost Logan, 2 Long Fangs, 4 Vehicles, Grey Hunters, Scouts, and the maybe-Librarian.

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Mt. Dew! Coffee!!

﻿ I won on the primary Kill Points, I think we both had 2 Quarters, and I held 3 Objectives, him 0.

This was a really fun game, and helped me get some confidence and learn a lot about what kind of abuse my army could take. I don't think Brandon had a lot of experience dealing with Dark Eldar, and even those that do struggle with target priority when shooting at me (more on that later). Brandon was a great player that I don't think made any mistakes, I just felt that I had a lot more firepower, melee-ability, and maneuverability than he did. The game definitely was a lot closer than this report makes it sound.

This game ended because we ran out of time, so I didn't even have time to go pee before the next pairings went up. I was pleased to learn that I was playing against Brother Captain James, one of the players that had beaten my Ordo Brothers in the Doubles Tournament. I was hot for some pay-back!

His army was absolutely stunning to look at. His lava-esque bases really made the whole thing pop! But as pretty as it was, I immediately felt a surge of confidence when I evaluated the contents: no vehicles, all Marines on foot: Shrike; Librarian Terminator (Null Zone; Gate); 10 Assault Terminators; 10 Vanguard Vets (with more than a few power weapons); 2 Scout squads; 2 Speeder Storms; and 3 Tactical Squads with Fists, Melta, and Lascannons.

The mission was Spearhead, Quarters, Seize, and Kill Points. I felt his army was going to be pretty divided, with a base of Tacticals shooting Lascannon pot-shots, and the Scouts, Vanguard, and Termies coming right at me. I figured I could fight it piecemeal and overwelm each part while keeping the bulk of the vehicles unengaged.

Despite the Baron, he won the roll and chose to go first. He put 3 Lascannon combat squads in a ruin in his back corner....way back corner...like too far to shoot things on my right table edge. He put the Termies with Libbie front and center, while 2 combat squads were at the halfway line hugging cover on my left, and another went behind a hill top center. He put Shrike with the Vanguard to Infiltrate, while the Storms deployed behind the Terms.

I put my Hellions front-and-center, with a tail for the Baron to catch back near the ruin in my corner; Haemi with the Hellions, Baron with the Wracks, same ole same ole. Venoms and one Reaver squad lined up along the half-way line to try to keep the infiltration away; while the other Reavers went down near my board edge. I made the decision early that the Reavers and Hellions were more or less Expendible, if I could just get the Vanguard close enough for the Incubi to kill I felt I could shoot down everything else. The Ravagers hid way in my corner out of range of Lascannon, waiting for the opportunity to kill some Terminators. I decided they'd take down Storms first (I just didn't want him to have speed running around) then retrograde and blast Termies.

Well, he took the bait, as Shrike went down 18" away from my Reaver blob; the Storms scouted 12" away from the Reavers. On his first turn (shown above) the Librarian Gated the Terms right in front of the Reavers. The Vanguard and Storms moved up on turn 1, the Scouts gettin gout and shooting up the Reavers, who took it on the chin with their FNP due to #6 on the drug chart. The Scouts and Vanguard charged in, and of coursed destroyed both Bike units, and they consolidated a bit closer to my Incubi...

Mt. Dew! Coffee!!

The Incubi were pretty psyched to actually get to charge some elite power armour instead of getting shot at all game, so they Haemi drove them over and kicked them out, and they took his pain. Reavers and Dark Lances shot down the Storms. Venoms softened up the Vanguard a bit, and the Hellions slipped around towards the lone combat squad in the middle of his board edge. The Incubi ripped apart every single Vanguard that the Venoms left standing, and put a wound on Shrike, who killed 3 of the Incubi himself.

James moved the Librarian to assault the Incubi to save Shrike, while the rest of the Termis moved in to the valley to engage the Reavers. His shooting was ineffective (as it was turn 1 also). The Incubi killed Shrike, but Shrike's simultaneous attacks combined with the Librarian cut them all down. A fair trade, and the first time I've gotten to use the Incubi to just outright shred some power armour! Fun!!

I moved everything backwards a bit more, with one Ravager killing the Librarian; the others and all the Venoms killing all but three Terminators, and the Hellions moving and shooting up 3 of the top Combat Squad.

Hi moved the Terminators over the hill to assault the Hellions...he had only Claw guys left. His shooting was again ineffective. The Terminators assaulted the Hellions and were all beat down dead before even swinging.

James Crotch!

The Hellions then moved to engage two Lascannon combat squads, wiping them out, while the fleet moved down to finish off the other 2 combat squads near my bottom left corner. When the Hellions wiped out their two combat squads and then shot up the third on my turn 4, with 4 Venoms and 3 Ravagers posed to fire at the other 2 combat squads, James gave up.

Somewhere in there I tried to get cute with the emtpy Raider and tank shock a combat squad just to move it out of cover...but didn't notice the meltagun, was destroyed, and the Haemi died too. Fail! But at least James got a good laugh out of it.

Other than the Raider, I lost the Reavers that I'd decided to use as bait/sacrifice and nothing more. A super solid win for me!

2 comments:

Hey, great reports man :) Seriously, glad the list worked out for you! I figured maybe you'd appreciate a little feedback on the writing of the reports. It's not at all meant to be negative, since the awesome far outweighs the bad.

Maybe make a more streamlined version of lists for readers to view. I had trouble focusing on the list of stuff they had in the format you gave. Maybe more of a vertical list, with each force org entry listed together?

In the same vein... where is YOUR list? People want to know what you took :)

Maybe make the pictures bigger as well. Not sure how big you can 'fit' on this particular blogger template, but it might really help, rather than showing your spiky blur surrounding his blue blur.

You're right on all calls, X. I've been blathering about my list on this blog for weeks, so I didn't even think to post in in these. Similarly, I knew the opponents lists well enough, but didn't write them out for another human to get it :)

The pictures I kept small on purpose. They're clickies so can be made big. I'll start using a larger size though, no sweat.

I usually do little maps with the battle reports too, but there were too many battles and the details of every unit's movement got lost in my old brain.